blowhard

noun

blow·​hard ˈblō-ˌhärd How to pronounce blowhard (audio)
plural blowhards
: an arrogantly and pompously boastful or opinionated person : braggart, windbag
… was trapped in a hellish marriage to … a struttingly insensitive macho blowhard.Owen Gleiberman
But he was seen by many in Congress as a blowhard, given to long-winded talks bristling with allusions to the Bible, ancient history, and the Constitution.Thomas E. Ricks

Examples of blowhard in a Sentence

a politician who is the stereotypical backslapping blowhard a blowhard who always had to act like she was better than anyone else
Recent Examples on the Web If the man on the street sounds like a blowhard, hyperpartisanship explains why. Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 25 July 2023 Just think of the sequel, when an Airhead wants to bring her Earth boyfriend home from college to meet her blowhard father. Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 14 June 2023 Change will come for good, because the thing the blowhards fear most has already come to pass. Yvonne Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 3 June 2023 His persona: comic blowhard. Maria Puente, USA TODAY, 18 Feb. 2021 What’s good prose, and who’s just a blowhard trying to show off? Matt Pearcestaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2023 Wilson was Biff, the bullying blowhard. oregonlive, 20 Feb. 2023 Still, few of us aspire to be the office blowhard. Rachel Feintzeig, WSJ, 30 Jan. 2023 Is Beowulf a politician or a locker-room blowhard? Irina Dumitrescu, The New York Review of Books, 17 Nov. 2020 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blowhard.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1848, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of blowhard was in 1848

Dictionary Entries Near blowhard

Cite this Entry

“Blowhard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blowhard. Accessed 25 Sep. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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